Aquila
by beelzemongirl
Summary: Lockdown and Shadow have another sparkling, but she's way different from her siblings? What's her real destiny? And can Lockdown help her find it?
1. Prologue

Prologue- Lockdown

We didn't know what to make of Aquila at first. She was…unusual, in a sense. Misshapen, deformed, all that good jazz. But in her deformity, she was beautiful. I knew she was meant for something great.

Camelio, Chamaeleon, and Andromeda were seven stellar cycles old when Aquila was sparked. Everyone who lived or worked on the ranch was there. Seven year old Anna Marie, Starscream and Alexis's little girl, stood in between her parents, holding their hands. Kiba, Prowl's and Aim's little boy, stood with Andromeda. The boys were holding there breath, while Shadow held on to me.

The anticipation mounted when shattered glass filled the air. Peter groaned, this was the fifth sparking tank broken since we decided to live here. Let me tell you, they weren't cheap.

"Lockdown…Look" Shadow pointed to the broken chamber.

I looked and there she was. Her parts were completely mismatched. Even stranger than that was body shape. It was that of a little bird.

_Hi _I heard a little voice say in my processor.

"Hi" I replied.

I knew it was her. She was telepathic, like her brothers. Right then and there, I knew there was some sort of special connection between us.

_Who am I? Who are you? Who are they?_

"I'm your dad. This is your family. And you're…" I thought of a name, "Aquila".

_I am…Aquila. You are…my dad. This is…my family. _

"Yeah" I reached out and she put her little head under my hand, "You're my baby…You'll always be my baby".

I grabbed her up gently and held her. Aquila trusted me from the very beginning. I knew, Shadow and I both knew, she was destined for something great.

A/N: And here it is…Aquila, everybody. Keep reading on. I'll post the next chapter as soon as I get it written.


	2. Chapter 1

Shadow

We didn't expect a beast morph as a sparkling. No one on Lockdown's side of the family had been beast morphs; at least we didn't think anyone was, so it came as a bit of a shocker to us. Time passed in space, and all our sparklings grew. While her siblings were all fourteen, Aquila was seven stellar cycles. At that time, she was wanting to fly.

I'm serious! That sparkling did everything imaginable to try to fly. She jumped off of stuff especially. Her favorite thing to jump off of? Her father's trophy case of course!

"Aquila, get down from there!" I demanded.

"I will here in a minute. I gotta wait for the vent to turn on".

She didn't seem to catch on that she didn't have feathers. Her wings were mechanical, so they would work in time, just not now. The vent came on, Aquila spread her little wings and tried to fly. No surprising, she crashed into Lockdown as he came in.

"What in the world are you doin' kid?" he asked.

"Trying to fly" Aquila answered.

"Don't kill yourself doing it".

"I won't" she jumped off of him and left.

I sighed. "I swear, that girl's gonna get herself killed one of these days".

"I think we've already established that".

"Lockdown, maybe we should tell her, and the others, about my being human".

"Shadow, we've talked about this. We're not gonna tell them until they're old enough to understand".

"But Lockdown, she's even more mismatched than you. None of her parts match, and she's a beast morph. I think she deserves the truth".

"She's no different from the others, Shadow. I don't want her to feel any different. No one knows more about being an outcast better than me. I don't wanna make her feel bad. Besides, she'll grow out of this".

We heard a crashing noise, and Aquila called "I'm okay!".

I gave Lockdown a dark look. "I severely doubt that".

But then again, he had a point. I saw no point in arguing, so I just let it go.

A/N: How was that?! I just got done watching Balto 2, and I totally ripped this. I feel so bad right now! Even though I shouldn't. Anyway, gotta go. Leave me a review.


	3. Chapter 2

Chamaeleon

Dinner on papa's ship is always interesting, especially when Aquila was around. While the rest of us had to sit in chairs and have energon in our robot modes, Aquila got to sit on the table as a falcon. She would easily tear any kind of energon meat to shreds using her beak and talons. She was stranger than the rest of us, quite stranger.

"Hey dad, why does Aquila get to stand on the table?" Andromeda, the older daughter, asked.

"'Cause she's smaller than you guys, so if you were small, you'd be able to sit on the table too".

"Right".

Camelio made it a habit to watch Aquila while she ate. It was weird of him, but he'd been doing since Aquila was really small. Yeah, she kinda ate chewed energon from momma and papa's mouths, another strange nail in her coffin. I stepped on his foot to get his attention.

"What?" my twin brother asked.

"It's not polite to stare" I said.

"I wasn't staring. I was observing".

Momma rolled her optics. "Boys, be nice".

"Yes, momma" we both said.

"Hey daddy" Aquila said, "Why am I so…mixed up?".

You wouldn't believe the reaction to that question. Momma coughed up her energon, almost choking on it. Andromeda laughed so hard, energon milk came out of her nose. Camelio was laughing with her. I gave papa a concerned look. Papa didn't exactly answer.

"It's because you're…unique, like your daddy" he said.

"What's that mean?".

"It means there's only one of you. One just like you, and that's you".

"But you're just like me".

"Not questioning your powers of observation, Aquila. I'll give you details when you're older".

"Much older" Camelio mumbled.

"What was that, Cameliopardalus? Did you have something to say?".

"No, papa".

"Good. Keep your comments to yourself, unless you really want me to know about them".

We were quiet for the rest of the time. We were still bounty hunters in training, and Andromeda was on the top of the world. She even started collecting "trophies" of her own. They weren't mods, though, like papa collected. Rather, anything shiny. So she was a hoarder. She loved any kind of treasure. If a single earring dropped, and then disappeared, check with her. Chances are, she used papa's stealth cloak and took the earring.

Camelio was okay with it most of the time. He just hated taking other people's stuff, so really all he collected from prey was names and stuff. It was a memory thing he had going on I guess.

I was toward the bottom of the list. I really didn't want to be a hunter. Rather, I wanted to be…an actor. Strange, I know, but I really wanted to do that. I loved the arts in all of its forms. Drawing, theatre, and music. Writing was a must do for me also. Papa said I was like momma that way, since she loved to do all those things once. I wonder why she stopped.

As well as our family living on papa's ship, there was yet another bounty hunter in training: Oil Slick. He never really associated himself with us. He loved taking things apart, and was teaching Andromeda how to do it. She'd make a great mechanic because of it. Oil Slick, or Uncle Slick as we liked to call him, usually was on his own, but was respectful only to us. Very antisocial guy, don't screw with him when he's ticked.

But yeah, I think we all knew where we belonged in our home except for maybe poor Aquila, who didn't know the whole truth as to why she was so different from us. I couldn't help but feel bad for her.

A/N: I hope I got the character personalities down to where you guys can get it. Camelio is the evil twin (somewhat), Chamaeleon is the momma's boy, Andromeda's the daddy's/Uncle's girl/niece, and Aquila is the curious baby. I know I'm stereotypical. Sorry!


	4. Chapter 3

Cameliopardalus

Oh man, no day could match when Aquila was told the truth. She was fourteen when it happened. The rest of us were twenty one, and starting to get lives of our own. I had moved out shortly after Chameleon left, but Andromeda stuck around to learn more from papa and Uncle Slick.

Anyway, it happened when Aquila went on her first hunt. She could fly perfectly then and she had gotten much bigger, so she couldn't sit on the table anymore (Ha, victory is mine, Bird Girl!). Her senses were extremely fierce, except for her sense of fashion, which was always off a little. Hey, I got no room to talk, so…At any rate, papa and Aquila stopped by at an abandoned area of Cybertron, which was filled with those freaky alien things that created us. They were destroying our home land, killing the last femmes along the way.

Papa and Aquila separated to get some more territory, but someone else was there. Another hunter, a rogue one, which put Aquila in danger. We later found out that it was one of those aliens framing a rogue hunter for it, but still, papa pummeled the sanity out of it later. As Aquila was on the look for prey, the quintisson (or whatever they're called) attacked her out of nowhere. Aquila tried to fight it off, but couldn't. Papa heard her calls for help and came to her aid.

"Back to the ship, now" he instructed.

"But dad-".

"GO! NOW!".

Aquila didn't argue. When she was away, the dying alien admitted its sinister intentions.

"You'll have to tell her now. She's the only femme beast morph out there. We thought we killed them all off, but I guess we missed one".

"Why are you after her?!".

"The only…femme…Best Morph. I'm not the only one. There are others who will be after her…bounty hunter".

"You disgust me!" papa snapped its neck.

He went back to the ship, where Aquila was waiting, along with mama.

"Lockdown, you're alright!" she hugged him tight.

"Don't worry, that one ain't gonna bother us again. Aquila, we need to talk" he gazed down at mama, "Preferably alone".

I like to think mama knew what he was intending, so she left with no questions asked.

"What is it, dad? Why was that hunter after me?".

"It wasn't a hunter, Aquila. It was a quintisson, looking for femmes to kill".

"Why me though? Mama was here too, and he didn't even bother to go toward the ship. It was going after me specifically. Why?".

The truth had to be told, and it had to be told now.

A/N: Oh, the drama of it all! Next chapter, Lockdown tells Aquila the truth!


	5. Chapter 4

Andromeda

Yeah, let's just say that Aquila wasn't too happy about finding out the truth. Here's what went down.

"Remember when you were seven you asked me why you were so different from the rest of us, except for maybe me?" dad asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Aquila answered.

"There's a reason for that. You have mismatched parts because of me. Before I met your mother, I had this thing for upgrades and mods. You're still a little too young to get it, but mods and upgrades are highly addictive, like drugs. It took a lot for me to ditch them. So I gave it all up for your mother and siblings. But, the damage had already been done. The addiction over time had gotten into my data, or genetics, as humans call it, and, unfortunately, you were the first data victim to succumb to my mistake".

Aquila was speechless. "But dad, you told me you were clean".

"I am, now. I haven't been involved with mods and upgrades since you're sister was born".

"But that doesn't make any sense. The boys were sparked when you had the upgrade addiction. Why aren't their parts mismatched?".

"Their parts are mismatched, it's just not as visible because their colors go with each other".

"And Andromeda? What about her?".

"Strangely enough, her parts aren't mixed. Your mother's data is dominant in her circuits, so… it could skip a generation".

"And me being a beast morph? Where's that come from? Is that from you too?!".

"That we don't know. As far as I can remember, no one on my side was a beast morph".

"What about on mom's side?".

"It's impossible for that".

"Why?".

"She…she was human when I met her".

If Aquila wasn't mad a minute ago, she was now.

"How in the world did she become a Cybertronian then?!".

"It's complicated. She saved me from a fight which could've killed me. She took me back to her family's ranch two hours outside of Detroit, Michigan, where she took care of me. During that time…we fell in love. But I was also suffering from circuit cancer. When I died of it, your mother wanted me back desperately, so Idunne, the Cybertronian goddess, made her a Cybertronian and she placed half her spark in me, which brought me back. Your brothers were sparked about a year later".

"So what, I'm organic as well?! I'm like Blackarachnia?! A techno-organic!".

"You're not organic. Idunne erased all traces of your mother ever being organic when she turned her".

"What do you know? About your family, I mean. What do you know?!".

"I don't know much, seeing as how my memory core was erased when my mother was killed by some Decepticon renegades. I know that she was an Autobot and my father was a Decepticon. My father was killed in the war, but my mother, of course, was murdered. I was rescued by a bounty hunter named Death Gar, who taught me the ways of the hunter. I've been like that since".

"So now you're a half blood?! Dad, how could you do this to me?! This is your fault! You made me this way!".

"Aquila, it's not entirely my fault-".

"Oh save it, dad. I'm not interested anymore! I'm out of here!" Aquila transformed and flew out of the room.

Since then, life was never the same for any of us. We learned the same shortly after Aquila did. But the truth would also lead to the greatest adventure of dad's function. The best hunt ever.

A/N: How was that, peeps? Next chapter: Aquila's POV after she's been told the truth.


	6. Chapter 5

Aquila

I couldn't believe it! My own father had lied to me my whole life. I was only following him now, when I could be my own femme. I stared over at the Cybertron moon, wondering where I truly belonged. Beast morphs were supposedly long gone, so there was nowhere to go but here. I needed to know more though, so maybe earth should've been my destination now. Mother used to live in Detroit. If I could get there…they'd tell me all about her, and I would know the full truth. I was in my own quarter when that epiphany came on me. The road was right there in front of me…And I decided to take it.

I had to get certain things first. And I'd probably leave a note behind as well. I grabbed my shoulder bag, packed some energon cubes and my father's reliquary, which he gave to me for my twelfth spark day. Then I wrote a note and left it on my night stand. It's a little difficult to write when your hands are so small as a transformer.

_To whoever reads this, _

_I know I don't belong here now. I know there's something else out there for me to do. I'm sorry for taking off, but I have to know the truth about me. Please, don't try to find me. I'll only get you hurt. I won't disclose my location. Again, I'm sorry. _

_Love Always, _

_Aquila_

I left it behind and decided to take off immediately, but I was caught by Uncle Slick.

"Where you going? And be honest Aquila".

"Uncle Slick, I wanna know more about me, about my mother and her past. I'm going to earth. Please don't tell anyone else".

"Oh I won't tell anyone, but I am going with you".

"You can't be serious?!" I grumbled.

"Look, you can't take on a single quintisson. What if they attack you again? What will you do then?".

"That's why I don't want anyone going after me. The quintissons will kill them, and you".

"I'm ready for them. I'm worried about you".

I thought about it. Maybe it'd be alright if he went. Hey, I was being responsible at least.

"Alright, but we have to get out of here now" I said.

"One step ahead of you, kid".

Slick had turned to his vehicle mode, which was a sweet looking motorcycle with a ram's head on it. After certain other preparations, we left dad's ship to find the truth.

A/N: How was that? Hopefully that was okay. Don't worry, the really interesting stuff will come soon, I promise.


	7. Chapter 6

Lockdown

The next morning was pretty uneventful. I kept having a strange dream about all these different kinds of beast morphs. First, there was a raven morph, one that served as a guide to me. Then there was a wolverine morph, which acted as a guardian. Another morph that I noticed was a wolf, which served as my opponent, for what I didn't know. Then lastly, a falcon and a dragon. I didn't understand what they symbolized, but I knew whenever I dreamt something strange, it told something that was going to happen.

I was woken by the twins, who were looking for Oil Slick.

"Yeah, he said he was gonna show us something kick aft. Do you know where he is, pop?" Camelio had gone to calling me pop over the years.

"He's around here somewhere. Try looking in his room. Good luck getting through it, though. It's a mess" I told him.

Just then, Andromeda came in, holding a note. "Dad, I think you should see this" she handed it to me.

I took it and knew by the sloppy handwriting it was Aquila. She wasn't telling me where she was going, just that she needed to find the truth on her own. I couldn't believe it. I had no idea that telling the truth would put so many lives on the line…

A/N: Kinda short, but I hope you liked it.


	8. Chapter 7

Shadow

Lockdown called me on my comlink and told me what happened. I couldn't believe he had told her the truth about everything, and she took off because she was afraid of the truth. Or she left to find it.

"Uncle Slick's gone too" Andromeda noted when I got home from trying to search for her myself.

"He must've gone with her" Lockdown suggested.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Stay close for now. Maybe they'll come back" Lockdown answered.

"I doubt it. If she was really mad at you, you can count on her not coming back anytime soon. We're gonna need help. Let's call in Prowl and the others on earth. Maybe that's where she's going".

"Good idea, Shadow. I'll try to see if I can contact them. Hopefully it'll be possible".

"What now?" Chamaeleon asked me.

"I don't know. Let's hope and pray she isn't dead".

A/N: Another short chapter, sorry. I'm trying to tell this scenario from everyone's POV, so everyone gets to get personal about this.


	9. Chapter 8

Chamaeleon

I always knew beast morphers were smart, but I had to admit that Aquila was just being plain stupid. She knew the Quints were out to get her, so why would anyone wanna leave the safety home when those things are after you? Just the complex processor of my sister I guess.

Papa tried to get in contact with Prowl and the others, but it was proving difficult. I knew then there wouldn't be anyway to find Aquila, at least not that way.

"I can't get to them. I'll keep trying, guys don't worry" papa tried to assure us like we were little Sparklings again.

It was Andromeda who found the perfect solution.

"Dad, try contacting Oil Slick. His comlink is almost always on, so maybe you can get in touch with him at least".

"Alright. Lockdown to Oil Slick, you there?".

We all heard him. "Slick here, what's up?".

"Where in the pit are you guys? Is Aquila there with you?".

Oil Slick hesitated for a minute. "No, she isn't".

"You're lying, Slick, let me talk to her".

We all heard her as well. "I'm not here, Slick".

"But he already knows".

"I don't care, make something up. I don't wanna talk to him!".

"What do I tell him?".

"Make something up. I don't care what it is!".

"Yeah, she's not here, bye!".

Oil Slick cut off communication. Oh yeah, Aquila must've been really mad if she didn't even wanna talk to dad.

"Did you and Aquila have an argument?" I asked.

"None of your business, Chamaeleon".

"You must've done something really bad if she doesn't even wanna talk to you".

"All I did was told her the truth! After that, I did nothing".

Camelio joined in. "You know what they say, the truth hurts, pop".

Papa rolled his optics and ignored Camelio's comment. I didn't say anything else. I didn't really wanna upset Papa anymore than we already had.

A/N: Finally, a good length chapter. Leave me a review!


	10. Chapter 9

Andromeda

Well, so much for my bright idea. Aquila and I weren't particularly close anymore. We never really were. I thought it was wrong that she was making dad worry so much and set the ship up in frenzy. I wouldn't have wasted my breath on her. Once she was mad, there was no calming her down. This time was especially no exception.

Swindle and I hadn't met yet at this time, but I already knew he was to be my spark mate, due to my interactions with my dad from all those years ago. Swindle was dad's next contact.

"You haven't seen Aquila yet, have you?" he asked the arms dealer.

"The bird sparkling? Nah, not yet. I'll help you look. What does she look like?".

"Like me, only she's a beast morph. That and her parts are even more scrambled up than mine".

"Alright, I'll help, but it'll cost you".

"Swindle" dad growled.

"Easy, big guy, I'm just pulling your chain a little. I'll contact you if I see her" he then turned to face me, "Andromeda".

"Swindle" I replied, nodding.

"I'll see you soon, I guess".

"Yeah, later".

Whenever dad contacted Swindle and I was there, we always said hi to each other, trying to regain what we lost when we went back into my time. We didn't break up or anything, it was just too early for me to find my spark mate. But now it was getting close. Hopefully I could bond with him again.

A/N: Another decent chapter. Yeah, Camelio doesn't have a comment right now or else his dad is gonna kick his butt.


	11. Chapter 10

Aquila

After a while, we had to stop. Uncle Slick wasn't too good of a condition to be wandering around everywhere. I removed my dad's reliquary from around my neck and set it down next to me.

"You took your father's reliquary" Uncle Slick noted.

"No, it's mine. He gave it to me a few years ago. Why's it matter?".

"Well, there's something I think you should know about that reliquary. Believe it or not, your father has no idea as to where or how he got it".

"No memory?" I asked.

"It's a long story, but I think he should explain it".

Just then, a raven flew over us. I stared at it, not sure what to think of it.

"How are you here?" I asked, not expecting an answer, "There's no air here".

"It's a spirit" Oil Slick got to his feet.

"A what?".

"A spirit. Another long story that I think your father should explain".

I continued to look at it as it flew on.

"I think it's a guide" I said.

Slick shrugged. "Perhaps. I heard that spirits have a tendency to be guides and guardians".

"Are they any threat to us?".

"No, I don't think so".

"Maybe it's trying to tell us something".

The raven cawed and flew off in the opposite direction. Oil Slick went straight, he sensed danger was near, very near.

"Is it the Quents?" I asked.

"We need to follow that bird, now" he didn't answer, but I knew he meant yeah.

We followed after the raven just as the Quents caught up with us. They were out for me, so I was their target, but Oil Slick stepped in and defended me.

"Stay away from my niece, you FIVE FACED FREAKS!" he shot his chain weapon at them.

I even joined in the action. I even quoted….Lord of the Rings!

"Want me? Come and claim me!" I loved that quote (Arwen was my favorite character).

They tried to do just that. I flew up and very high. I transformed in mid air and allowed myself to swoop down, catch one, and then slam it to the ground.

"Catch her! Kill her!" one yelled out as another tried to catch me.

I kept up my slamming act, while Slick choked them using his chain. The rest were forced to retreat. When they were gone, I noticed that my reliquary was gone.

"Where is it? Did you have it, Slick?" I asked frantically.

"No, I didn't, kiddo".

I knew that I practically fell out with my dad, but that reliquary was all that I had that was close enough to his presence that I could get now. I was actually starting to long for the safety of home, where I could be back with them, my family.

Just then, the raven flew down to me and dropped my reliquary into my hands.

"Thank you" I said.

The raven simply cawed and landed next to a now sitting Oil Slick.

"We need to stop. That interference by the Quents wasn't a help with my energy".

I decided to recharge alongside Oil Slick. What choice did I have but to do that? So, I tried to recharge, while my spark ached for one thing…daddy.

A/N: I have to stop here guys, hopefully this was good.


	12. Chapter 11

Lockdown

That's when I took the initiative. I'd be able to track Oil Slick and Aquila through their energy signatures. Why I didn't think of that before, I have no idea. I had to be the one to go after them. This was my fault, and I wasn't about to risk anyone's safety to correct it.

"She's our sister" Camelio said.

"I don't care. This is my issue, I have to take care of it. Granted, she is your guys' family, but this is my fight".

"But dad-" Andromeda tried to get in on this.

"But nothing! This is all about me and Aquila. I'm not risking your guys' lives to correct my mistake".

Shadow understood at least. I knew she'd have difficulty coping with my being gone, but she was a strong femme, and I believed in her. I still do.

"Bring her home, love" Shadow told me.

"I'll try anything. If Swindle contacts you asking for me, tell him the situation. He'll know to contact me on my comlink".

It was then that I left the safety of home for her. This was going to be quite the hunt.

A/N: Alright, he's going after her! What happens next? Well, we hear from Oil Slick, since I've never done a chapter from his POV. See ya!


	13. Chapter 12

Oil Slick

We finally got back up and running after a nights recharge. The raven was still there, patiently waiting for us. It wanted us to go to earth, which was our destination anyway. We needed to follow it. That raven was the only thing other than my senses that was keeping us out of harm's way. If master Lockdown knew if I had done something to hurt his daughter, oh yeah, he'd kill me.

"Get up, we gotta get going" I woke Aquila.

"Five more minutes!" she moaned.

"No, get up now! That bird's getting antsy".

"Alright fine, I'm up".

"Good, let's go".

I gazed at the reliquary around her neck. I had asked master Lockdown about it several times, when it was a mere decoration on his ship.

(Flashback)

"What are you doing, master?" I asked.

Master was performing a version of his own tribal religion. Around his neck was the reliquary; in his good hand was an amber piece on a chain. I watched the amber as it just swung in his hand on its own. Below it were what I thought was some of his first weapons, a silver bow and sliver arrows. Only problem, they weren't his.

"Praising the Queen of the Hunt. It's a practice performed by most bounty hunters".

"Who is she? The Queen of the Hunt, I mean?".

"Ever heard of Artemis?".

"Who?".

"Obviously not, so I'll fill you in. Artemis, to the organics a long time ago, was a goddess. She was a lover of all things hunting. She told her father, the king of the gods, that she was never to marry, wanted a silver bow and arrows, always wanted to stay hunting out in the wild, and wanted the best hunting nymphs and hounds. Some of our kind got wind of the myth, and created a religion out of it".

"I thought Idunne was the only goddess".

"No…that's the traditional way of doing things. This is much more daring. I could be killed if caught doing this. We call her the Queen of the Hunt. She protects us, accompanies us, and makes sure we always achieve our hunting goals. Oil Slick, I need you to promise me something".

"What master?".

"Don't tell anyone I follow this unless it's a fellow bounty hunter. We all practice it".

"Will I?" I asked.

"Perhaps…that'll largely depend on you. Just don't tell anyone about this".

"I promise".

"Good, now get some recharge. You're gonna need it".

(End of Flashback)

I hadn't told anyone since. Did I follow his religion? No, I preferred the traditional way of doing things. I was sure that Aquila kinda deserved to know that the reliquary she had around her neck was actually illegal in Cybertronian territory, but a promise is a promise.

A/N: Just a quick note, Oil Slick is not my character. He's an actual character in the series who will appear in season 3. He's played by the same guy who does Jazz's voice in the same series. I really don't know if he is associated with Lockdown. I know he's a Decepticon that becomes a kick aft futuristic motorcycle and loves to take things apart.


	14. Chapter 13

Aquila

I know you might find this a little hard to believe, but that bird led us to right where we needed to be. Right in Detroit, at the ranch that once belonged to my mother. First thing we noticed was a small group of humans out on the porch.

One human was a fairly nice looking woman. Her hair was dark brown and up in a ponytail. Her bright eyes were green. She looked no older than twenty five at least. But I found out later I was wrong about that assumption.

A man was next to her, with jet black hair and icy blue eyes. He appeared to be her husband, as human females called their mates. He looked about the same age as his wife, as human males called their mates. Again, I was wrong about that too.

In between them was a little black haired girl about twelve years old. Her eyes were bright with enthusiasm and green. I assumed that the girl was their daughter. Yep, got that one right.

There was another woman with them, two actually. One was fairly dark skinned with red hair and deep black-brown eyes. She wore some faded jeans with a white tank top. Her hair, like the first lady's, was put in a ponytail. The other lady I noticed looked just like the first, but her eyes were icy, just like the man's. Another daughter of theirs.

"Look mommy, it's another Cybertronian!" the little girl pulled at her mother's sleeve.

The woman faced me and appeared to be shocked. Her husband and other daughter did the same.

"Why are they staring at us?" I asked Slick.

"Oh it's me, I'm famous".

I gave him a dark, doubtful look. "No" I simply said.

"Peter!" the woman called inside the ranch house, "Aquila's here!".

They knew me? How? I didn't know them…I didn't think I knew them.

A blonde haired man with brown eyes came out with an Australian Sheppard dog behind him. He was dressed almost like the red head woman, but had black grease marks on his shirt.

"Aquila? Is it you?" he asked me.

"That's my name. Do I know you?" I asked.

Peter came up to me and reached up to try to touch my head. I was only fourteen stellar cycles, but I was as big as the Haast eagle, the biggest bird the world had ever seen. They're extinct, unfortunately. I felt like I kinda knew him…but it just wasn't clicking right. I bowed my head and let him stroke a part of my face.

"My god, you look just like your father" he said, "Except maybe a little more mismatched".

"Who are you to me?" I asked.

"I'm your mom's best friend. I helped her take care of your father".

"After the fight?".

"Yeah".

"Oh, then you're okay. So who's everyone else?" I asked.

"I'm Alexis" the brown haired woman answered, stepping up, "I was friends with your mother too".

"Starscream is the name, Aquila, and I've heard much about you. I'm Alexis's husband, and I used to be one of your kind".

"Cool".

"I'm Anna Marie. I was there when you were sparked. I was seven at the time" the other brown haired woman joined in.

"And I'm her little sister, Cassie" the little girl followed suit.

"I'm Sari…that's my actual name, don't get confused" the red head told me.

"Nice, I said. I was actually kinda hoping if you guys could help us out. I'm trying to find where I belong, I don't exactly fit in with my family as you can see" I told them.

"You're searching for the truth?" Alexis asked, "I don't know a whole lot about your dad, but I know quite a bit about your mom".

"Yeah, I'm just trying to find someone who can tell me about my father and his history. You know anyone I can talk to?" I asked.

"You can talk to us" another voice said behind us.

I turned and saw two yellow bots gazing at me and Slick. One was a ninja looking one. I knew him somehow too, but I couldn't remember how. The other was just kinda goofy looking, I didn't recognize him.

"What do you know?" I asked.

"A lot, actually. Aquila, my name is Prowl. You probably don't remember me. I haven't seen you since you were…well, little".

"Yeah, really little. I'm Bumblebee" the other I hadn't recognized told me.

"Okay. Can we talk about this…alone?" I gazed at the humans.

"Yeah sure" Peter nodded.

"If you need anything, just call us and we'll handle it" Sari followed the others inside.

Slick and I sat down.

"Now" I said, "What can you tell me about my father?".

A/N: Next chapter: We hear from Lockdown as he continues his search for Aquila, and meets up with the raven and a familiar (sort of) face.


	15. Chapter 14

Lockdown

I searched for hours, but not knowing where she was…it was proving to be a problem for me. I was searching again when I saw it…the raven. It cawed as it flew over me.

"What are you? Why in the name of Primus are you following me? What are you, a vulture living in another life?" I asked.

"Hey, I kinda need some help here" I heard a voice call through the thick fog, "I need to get out of this thing".

"Where are you?" I called back.

"Depends, where are you?".

"Just keep talking, I'll find you".

I followed the voice through the fog and was grateful to find that it wasn't a Quentisson. Rather, it was a kid. He was about Aquila's age, maybe about two stellar cycles older. He was tan and dark blue. He kinda looked like…Andromeda. He was caught in a foot trap.

"What's your name and why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm here to help you. A little birdie told me you were looking for your daughter".

"Yeah, Aquila".

"Beast morph?".

"Yeah".

"In that case, you're in luck. That raven knows exactly where she is…and so do I. The name's Storm Caller. I'm what you'd probably call an intergalactic arms dealer slash bounty hunter. Arms dealer, by way of my father. Hunter by way of my mother".

"Wait, who are your parents?" I asked.

"I'll tell you if you let me out of this trap".

I cut the cord attached to his foot with my hook.

"Now, who are they?".

"My father's name is Swindle. My mother's name is Andromeda. I also have a sister named Cassiopeia".

"You're my grandson".

"Wow, that didn't take you long to catch on to. Dad kinda sent me out here to help you. Yeah, he's looking himself, don't worry. But you don't need to. The raven here's told me that your daughter's safe, and she's on Earth with some friends of grandma's".

"You took my daughter to earth?! What for?! Anything else I should know?!" I asked the raven who cawed almost mockingly on Caller's shoulder.

"Yeah, she's telling me that Aquila and Slick were attacked by Quents on the way there. We might wanna get a move on if we wanna get there before they do" Caller extended his arm and the raven took off.

Caller followed after it, and I followed after him. I was a little uneasy around him, even if he was my grandson. Swindle was…a very deceiving guy who could act like he loved you one minute and then kill you the next. For all I knew, this guy could've been the same way".

A/N: A decent chapter in my eyes. I think I'm really on a roll with this. Next chapter, we go back to Oil Slick and Aquila. Aquila learns about the Great War, and her father's involvement in it.


	16. Chapter 15

Oil Slick

I was actually kinda hoping that Aquila wouldn't know about her father's past in the Great War. I knew it would make her feel terrible. Her father had regretted the "Arcee situation" (as he fondly called it) at first, but as time went on, he just stopped caring a little. I liked to think that master Lockdown never forgave himself for it, but was just really good at hiding it. But morals and emotions didn't exactly matter to him until he met Shadow as Melissa Ulrich. Then he became a parent and now he was having daughter issues.

We sat out on the front lawn with Prowl and Bumblebee, both of whom were glad to explain what their leader had told them that happened.

"Ratchet told Optimus about his own encounter with your father during the Great War only after our leader was captured by Lockdown himself. It was long, long before your time, Aquila. War was destroying our home planet, and the era of the Bounty Hunter was starting to rise. Your father was hired by the Decepticon leader to capture Arcee, an Autobot intelligence officer who knew valuable access codes. All the while, Ratchet was sent to retrieve her off the field and bring her back to the Autobot headquarters" Prowl explained.

"Yeah, but Ratchet had to take the tunnels, and that's where he met your father for the first time. At first, he thought that he was just another Decepticon, but he wasn't. He was a Half-Blood. You know what that is, right?".

"Yeah" Aquila answered, "I am one".

"Okay, so anyway, Ratchet and Arcee, the intelligence officer, were both captured by your father. While Ratchet was knocked out, your dad stole his electromagnetic pulse generator-".

"You're a LIAR! MY FATHER WOULD NEVER-".

"Calm down, Aquila. Your father wasn't the same as he was back then. He still had the upgrade addiction, and he hated the war as a whole, but was forced into it. Everyone was forced into it. If it was still going on, you would be forced into it as well" Prowl tried to calm her down.

I just sat there. I already knew this story. You should've seen Master afterward. Believe me, it was…psychological, sort of speak.

(Flashback)

There he was, installing his new EMP generator, which he had rightfully stolen from his latest prey. He was crooning over it, stroking it like a precious pet. That's when I caught on that he was addicted.

"I told you Artemis was with us, Slick. Look how well she's rewarded me, kid" he showed it to me.

"I see…so, now what are you gonna do with it?".

"It's got a ton of uses. I can use it for whatever I want. Now, I gotta go back to my quarters. My altar's waiting".

He went back into the dark hall to his room, just to practice his black magic.

(End of Flashback)

"What happened then?" Aquila asked, calm now.

Prowl took it up. " Just as Arcee was about to interrogated by Megatron, she told Ratchet to use the generator to swipe her memory of the access codes. Your father interfered with the process and forced him to wipe her whole memory core".

"That's…terrible. Why would anyone want to do that?" Aquila asked.

"It was an accident" I said at last, "a very tragic accident that he later regretted. Despite Artemis's gift of a good hunt, he cost an innocent to lose her memory when it wasn't necessary to go that far".

"But why? My dad was never that brutal, right?" Aquila asked.

"Unfortunately, he kinda was. But then he met Melissa and his life turned around" Prowl explained.

"Was that my mother's name before she met him?".

"Yeah. I wasn't around when she was human, but Aimee was. She knows a lot about your mother".

"Hey Prowl, Bee, what can you tell us about the Quentissons?"

A?N: Oh yeah, this is gonna get interesting! Next Chapter: All about the Quentissons and why they're after Aquila.


	17. Chapter 16

Aquila

"We know about them, just not as much as we should" Prowl told me.

"We know that they created us, but they want us to stay in our primitive state. They don't want us to evolve" Bumblebee added.

"So, is that why they're targeting me…because I can help in the evolution of beast morphs?" I asked.

"They're after you? Well, I guess that's somewhat not surprising. They won't dare to come here, so stay as long as you need. Aimee and Kiba love company".

"Thanks, Prowl. But I won't stay long probably. I know if they catch on to me being here, they'll target you guys as well".

"Just stay as long as you need to" Bumblebee shrugged.

Oil Slick and I went on to find a smaller version of the ranch house not too far from the main house. I hung my reliquary on a hook by the door. Then, the raven appeared again.

"What is this? What is it for?" I asked the raven.

The raven cawed and flew around the reliquary charm, a large emerald. My optics traced the raven as if flew and cawed. I still didn't get it. But I noticed the strange flight patterns of the raven. First it flew in a circle then moved on in lines in the center. It looked like a…a…what humans would call a dream catcher. But why was that so important?

I didn't understand. Why was that so important? I'd have to look stuff up about dream catchers. Maybe it was apart of Cybertronian history. What I learned about them surprised me.

It just so happened that a dream catcher was an ancient symbol of the Jungle Planet. It was an emblem that was worn on a chain by the leader of the planet. The current leader was a dragon morph named Scourge. He was extremely old, and was looking for an heir. Funny, just an heir, not an heiress. Strange to me. But then again, I was the last femme best morph.

That was when I knew what I had to do. I had to go to the Jungle Planet…to compete for the right to become leader. Not because I wanted to, but because it was destiny.

A/N: Life is getting great! I love this! Anyway, Next chapter: Lockdown and Caller find themselves searching harder for Aquila and Slick.


	18. Chapter 17

Lockdown

Let me tell you, finding one kid isn't easy when you have another one following you around. It's not that I didn't like Caller or anything, but I knew because of his father he could be a real pain in my aft. Well, at least he wasn't as big as a pain as that raven was.

"How long is this gonna take?" I asked as if I expected an answer.

"Not too long. Aquila's around here, somewhere. We just gotta get to Earth first" Caller tried to reassure me.

Yeah, we had to alright. But the road and the time it took were being difficult. Of course, there was always that one worry: That my little Birdie was gone. I mean gone as in dead gone, by the way.

I couldn't believe this. Maybe I was wrong for telling her what was really going on. I knew the truth hurt sometimes, but I had cut her real deep. Now she wanted the whole truth, most of which I couldn't even tell her.

My thoughts were kinda interrupted by the feeling of being watched. You know that feeling? Yeah, just one issue, we were being watched. Good news: It wasn't a Quent. Bad news: He would wind up giving me the hardest time in the frikkin universe.

He got at us in a sneak attack, getting Storm Caller first. When I got a good look at our attacker, I noticed that he was the wolf beast morph from my dream. He was almost pure white, with the exception of some blue in certain areas. Oh yeah, this sucker was gonna get himself killed….even if it was by my hand. No one messed with my family and got away with it.

Just as the wolf was about to slash open Caller's weak alloy plating (one sign of many of one being a half-blood), I caught him by the neck with my hook and pulled him over. Not a smart move, seeing as how he was after me too.

He used his claws and got me right in the face. The stupid dog brain didn't get it. I wasn't a sparkling, like the kid was, so my alloy was a little stronger. But, shockingly enough, that wolf was able to knock me off my feet, just like Frenzy did when I was facing him all those years ago. Now he was about to kill me! Why? I had no idea.

Then I felt something else near. It knocked the wolf off and started tearing at it with its sharp fangs and claws, another beast morph. Okay, who's side was this guy on? I looked on as the two fought each other on the ground, wrestling for the upper hand. The new one involved in this was a wolverine. The fight almost ended with the death of the wolverine.

"Honestly Orion, did you think you can beat me? You dare to go against your future leader!" the wolf asked.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, Snarl, I would!".

"Then fall like the rest…FOOL!".

I knew it was strange, but I needed to protect that wolverine mech, like he had protected me. So once again, I pulled dog brain off and just pounded him until he was able to get out of a very dangerous situation. That was when I got a good look at that wolverine.

What I saw shocked even me.

He was all black in most areas, but his face was pure white, with black stripes going from the sides of his face to the edge of his snout. Wolverines have a huge ring on their bodies, usually a light or dark gold color. But this one had a green ring on his. His optics were scarlet red.

Snarl looked at me and then at the wolverine with a surprised look. He smiled almost evilly.

"No way! No frikkin way! Is this for real?! Like, for real, for real? Oh, Scourge is gonna love this" the wolf beast morph turned to Orion, "Once his memories come back, you'll fade. So I don't even need to touch you" he then faced me again, "As for you…Well, let's just say this planet opens several doors for you…ones going into the past. Take care, Orion" he told the wolverine and took off.

A/N: I'll bet some of you are wondering what's going on. Well, I'm curious to know what you guys think is going on. I wanna see if you know what I'm planning. Hint: It's not in my exclusive look. So leave me a review.


	19. Chapter 18

Aquila

I kicked Oil Slick's berth.

"You awake?" I asked.

"I am now, why?" Slick replied.

"I wanna know what you can tell me about the Jungle Planet".

"You woke me from recharge for that?!".

"Among other things".

Slick moaned. "Go to recharge. Leave me alone".

"Alright fine. I'm going for a flight if that's okay with you".

"I can't control you anyway. Do what you want, just don't destroy anything".

"Got it".

I flew outside into the cool night, only seeking mental and emotional refuge. From what, I didn't know. As I was flying along, I saw something quite interesting. Have you ever heard of something called Motocross? I didn't until I met Kiba.

He was so awesome. He was silver and blue, like Aimee was, but he was this kick aft motorcycle thing. Really nice model in my optics.

I watched as he drove over hills and did dangerous and stupid stunts. Awesome, all of it. I wanted to try, but I wasn't a vehicle, and even if I was, it probably wouldn't have been a good thing. I clapped when he was done.

"You like that, huh? I thought you would, Aquila".

"You know my name?".

"Well of course. I grew up with your sister, you know? I was there when you were sparked. Everyone was".

"I guess I do matter, huh?".

"What made you think you didn't?" he transformed and sat on the fence next to me.

"I don't know. I've always doubted myself" I admitted.

"Well, you shouldn't. Life is like jumping into a pool or doing a stunt. You have to be ready for it and when you are, take the plunge. That's what I do".

"Well, that's you. I'm not as brave. Who are you?".

"I'm Kiba. It means fang".

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Serious as I'll ever be".

"No way" I didn't believe him.

I found myself laughing along with him. I know it was strange, but I found it easy to relax around Kiba. I could forget all my problems with him. But…he was older by like seven stellar cycles. No way I could like him…could I?

A/N: Now what are you thinking? Go ahead and tell me. I'm waiting for it.


	20. Chapter 19

Oil Slick

I knew somehow that Aquila would be interested in having a…personal relationship with Kiba. I knew nothing could come out of it. He was much too old for her. Well, at least by Master's standards he was. I decided, finally, to contact him and tell him about it.

"Oil Slick to Master Lockdown".

No response. Maybe he was too far out of range. I tried several times, and still didn't get any replies. I gave up my attempts, so now I had to make sure that Prowl's son wouldn't cause any trouble for Aquila…or me.

On more than one occasion, I'd try to keep her away from Kiba by distracting her with something else. Even though we didn't live on the ranch, Aquila wanted to help with a few things. Kiba was often her partner in this. An action taken by Peter that I deeply disliked.

Anyway, it wasn't long before I told her about the Jungle Planet.

"It's the last refuge of all Beast Morphs. It's never had a queen or female leader. It's always believed that mechs were superior" I told her.

"Sexist jerks!" Aquila replied.

"Well, it's their way of life. Why do you know all this anyway?" I asked.

"I wanna go to the Jungle Planet. Something tells me that I need to be there".

"What kind of something?".

"Inner instinct, I guess".

"Well, if we're gonna go, we need to go as soon as possible".

"I know what it is".

"What?" I asked.

"You don't want me hanging around Kiba".

"I'm looking out for you. Your father would do the same".

"Dad would've been worse about it. Remember when Andromeda brought that one mech over? Dad threatened to shoot him if even thought about kissing her".

"That was funny" I commented.

"No it wasn't".

I shrugged. "Sure it was".

"No it wasn't".

"Are we gonna argue about this all day or what?" I asked.

"I guess we have to tell the others what's going on, huh?".

I nodded. "Yeah, guess we do".

A/N: How was that? I might actually make a fic for when Andromeda brought that guy over and Lockdown threatens to shoot him. Just a thought. Next chapter: Lockdown meets Scourge and seems to know him somehow.


	21. Chapter 20

Lockdown

Caller and I followed Orion through various habitats, mostly rainforests. It wasn't just a jungle on the Jungle Planet. There were also deserts, mountains, and even ocean habitats for morphs that lived in water. When we reached the end of the Jungle part, we saw the Jungle Temple, the home of Scourge, king of the Jungle Planet. Snarl, unfortunately, was with him.

"I told you, my lord, he's come back" Snarl told the dragon on seeing me.

The orange and dark colored, two headed dragon stared at me as if inspecting me. I didn't know whether to expect an inspection or just waited for him to kill me. Around his neck was a necklace made up of different types of Cybertronian unpolished sapphire. In between certain pieces, there were silver pieces that resembled feathers. In the center of the necklace was a dream catcher pendant.

"So he has" the dragon stared at me.

"Do I…know you?" I asked.

I seemed to know the dragon from somewhere. In fact, this whole planet seemed like a distant memory. A very distant memory, but one regardless.

"You know me…you know all of us".

"How?".

"You will know in time. But for now, you both are most welcome" Scourge seemed to look around, "Where is the girl?".

The raven flew around Scourge and cawed.

"She isn't here? But we need her here".

"Is it Aquila?" I asked.

"I know she is the one who is half blooded, but does not know".

"Why do you need her?" I asked, sure that it was Aquila.

Snarl and Orion left by this time and the dragon was glad to explain everything.

"I've been king of this planet for eons. I'm not young anymore, Lockdown, Bounty Hunter King. It won't be long before my own spark extinguishes. I need an heir, and Cassiopeia, the Great Falcon, has said that it is to be a young femme. I asked for a name, but she never gave me one".

"A falcon? Cassiopeia? Caller, isn't that the name of your sister?" I asked.

"Yeah, but she's not a beast morph".

Huh…it was going to be difficult to catch on as to what was going on. But when I did find the truth…it was quite a shocker.

A/N: Keep thinking guys. Next chapter: Kiba and Aquila share a cute moment before she and Oil Slick take off for the Jungle Planet.


	22. Chapter 21

Aquila

I had a wonderful time with Kiba and the others in Detroit, but I had to go to the Jungle Planet. Destiny was calling and no one can escape destiny. The night before I left though, it was one night I wouldn't forget.

"So, you have to go to the Jungle Planet because it's destiny?" Kiba asked when we took a walk around the ranch grounds.

"Yeah. Crazy, isn't it?" I asked back.

"Not really. My father says that no man can escape his fate. If it's destiny, then you have to do her bidding".

We went out to the lake and sat on the shore, loving the beauty of it all. The moon was full and the sky was starry and clear. We stargazed for hours on end.

"Hey, isn't that your constellation?" Kiba pointed out Aquila, my namesake.

"Yeah, that's me" I answered.

"What's the story?".

"What?".

"The story of the constellation. Every constellation has a story behind it, right?".

"Yeah, but it's complicated".

"Oh just tell me. I'm sure I'll get it".

So I told him.

"Well, believe it or not, Aquila was actually a guy eagle who was a secondary messenger to Zeus, king of the Greek gods. When he needed a new cupbearer, he sent Aquila to fetch him that one person to do such an honorable job. Of course, the title of cupbearer could only be given to the most beautiful of mortals, so that was what Aquila searched for. He found a very handsome guy named Ganymede, and flew him to the hall of the gods, where he was made the cupbearer. Zeus was so happy with Aquila's choice that, upon his death, he put Aquila into the sky as the constellation. That's the version I know".

"Pretty interesting. You like mythology?" Kiba asked.

"It's kinda my mother's thing. As you know, she named all of us after constellations. Well, I'm an exception. My dad named me" I answered.

"You're his special one…every father has one. When will you leave?".

"Tomorrow morning. Why?".

"Because I want you to have this" Kiba removed something from around his neck, "This necklace, its pendant, it's made of real amber, which is very rare nowadays. I want you to wear it as a good luck charm. And as a symbol of my promise".

"What promise?" I asked.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Kiba kissed me. Then I understood a little. It was my first kiss, and I loved it…loved him.

"My promise to find you" Kiba answered, "When you come of age, I'll find you and make you my spark mate. We'll rule the Jungle Planet together someday, I promise".

Hopefully that wouldn't be too far away in the future. I kissed him back and held the precious amber pendant in my hand, and let the chain just hang. That was how I met my first love…Kiba, son of a wannabe racer and an awesome ninja. He'd find me. I already knew he would.

A/N: How was that? I was thinking about putting these two together for now. But I might pair her with a beast morph later. I don't know. I guess I'll have to wing it and see what happens.


	23. Chapter 22

Oil Slick

The next morning, everyone got up early to see us leave. Aimee, Prowl, Kiba, Peter and the other humans, Blazer, Scorcher, and even…yes, Wreck-Gar came out to see us.

"Just know there's always a place for you here, both of you" Peter told us.

"Yeah, we know. Hey, if we're gonna make it, then we have to go now" I told Aquila, who was in no hurry to leave.

Aquila wait a minute, before you leave, I kinda heard about what Kiba gave you and I thought maybe you'd like this" Wreck Gar pulled out a necklace he had made himself out of little chains and bottle caps, "You like it?".

Aquila smiled and slipped her head into the chain. "Love it" she said.

"Great! Well, come and see us later, will ya?".

Even though he was older now, he still retained that sparkling processor of his. Aquila thought of it as adorable. I just thought him retarded.

"Hey, are we gonna leave or what?" I asked.

"Yeah, here in a minute" Aquila went over to Kiba and I knew what had gone down. Kiba had kissed her.

Wait 'til her dad found out….

Aquila kissed Kiba goodbye and we took off. Finally, we were off that planet and in familiar territory. In Aquila's talons was the reliquary.

"Why bother with that thing?" I asked.

"It holds high emotional value" Aquila answered.

"But it's basically nothing" I said.

"No it isn't. Just because something doesn't have a past doesn't mean it doesn't have a future. That goes for everything and everyone else".

I never understood m her logic, but whatever, I went with it.

A/N: Next chapter: Things get really interesting when Lockdown asks Scourge questions about why he has the feeling he knows the leader of the Jungle Planet.


	24. Chapter 23

Lockdown

While my crazy daughter was off kissing her new found boyfriend, I was pondering what to do now that I was there in a place I thought I knew, but wasn't sure. I knew I had to ask one mech: Scourge. It was dawn when I caught him catching the first rays of the sun.

"Scourge, why is it I know you?" I asked.

"Well, it's not exactly me…but you do know this place" he didn't answer exactly.

"Yeah, but how and why?".

"You were sparked and would've been raised here".

"What? Not following".

"Then I will show you. Bear but a single touch and I will lead you through what has been".

I touched his side and I felt what could only be described as a time shift. Next thing I knew, we were at the base of the Jungle Temple, where a beautiful garden was growing. It was being tended currently by a beautiful femme who resembled a red bird of sorts. Her face plate was white with beautiful black markings, like mine. Her optics were a shining green. Her smile was so kind. I knew her, but how? She seemed to be holding something. She gasped happily.

"Orion!" she called, "Come quick!".

Her voice, I knew it somehow. But again, how?

Orion…the very wolverine mech we knew, rushed to her side.

"What is it, mother?" Orion asked.

"Look, it's a mantis. They've come back. They can protect the plants from locusts now".

"It's just a mantis, mother".

"Oh Orion, if only you understood. The mantis makes it his priority to protect his home from any invaders, including the ones that harm him…even others of his kind".

"Why?".

"They have to defend what is theirs and what's important to them".

"Like families?".

"Somewhat…baby mantis grow on their own. Their mothers don't care for them. Rather, Gaia looks out for them".

This scene…it was so familiar.

"Does Artemis help them?".

"Only when it comes to getting a meal, my son".

"I wanna be like a mantis. I wanna protect what matters. Can I, mother?" Orion asked, his red optics full of hope.

His mother put the mantis on the ground to embrace her son.

"Of course you can, love. You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want".

"I'll protect you, mother".

"My little hunter…I love you so much".

The femme held her son to her, and just that moment, I found myself with tears in my optics. Why, I didn't know.

"Do you understand, Lockdown?" Scourge asked me.

"I think, but I need to be shown more".

"Very well. I think I know what will make you understand".

The time changed again. This time it was a foggy morning not too far away from the temple. There was a little burned down cottage where the femme and her son were practicing their magic. Once again, I recognized the place.

"So, what are these symbols?" Orion asked.

"They are runes, Orion".

"No I mean these ones, the ones on the fire place here. Like this one" Orion pointed out a silver colored bow and arrow on the old fire place of the cottage.

"That is Artemis's prized weapon, Orion. She received those from Zeus himself, so that she could hunt without causing pain to the animals she hunted".

"So she was a nice hunter?" Orion asked.

"Perhaps, it depended highly on what she hunted. Stags were always her favorite. I told you the story of Actaeon right?".

"Yeah, where she turned that one guy into a stag so he was killed by his own dogs".

"Very good, Orion. I have a gift for you. Something that I hope you'll treasure forever" the femme dug through the ash in the fireplace and pulled out….

I gasped. No, it couldn't be! It was the reliquary…which meant…. I was crying again. I was one of them, that femme, the red femme…she was….my mother. My beautiful mother, the one who died protecting me from those rogues. And I promised to protect her. I was once Orion, a wolverine beast morph.

"I don't need to see anymore. I get it" I managed, "I'm so sorry, mother".

A/N: How was that for drama?! Bet you'll never saw that coming!


	25. Chapter 24

Storm Caller

I could've told gramps about my great grandmother, even though I didn't know much about her myself. I knew mom had named my sister after her, and that she had been a beast morph. She loved nature in all its forms. Basically she was almost a female Prowl.

"If you knew about her, why didn't you say anything?" Lockdown asked.

"I didn't know much. What I know can't help you".

"Why?".

"That's the way things are. It's an unfortunate fact. But I do know that her name was Cassiopeia, my sis was named for her. She was a phoenix morph who loved nature".

"Yeah, I knew the last part. A phoenix? Then how was I a wolverine?".

I shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, I don't know much about her or the way things work around here".

"Hm" he appeared to be thinking, "Then shouldn't I be in this too?".

"Perhaps we both should" I replied.

"We'll wait for Aquila. If anything, she's coming here to take part in it".

I smiled. "Brilliant, gramps. Shouldn't take her too long".

A/N: Short chapter, but I wanted to let Caller have his own chapter. He's not exactly well developed yet, but I'm working on him.


	26. Chapter 25

Aquila

We wound up crash landing where we needed to be. How ironic, I was a flyer, but I stunk at landing. Oil Slick wound up crashing into me.

"Next time, you need to work on the landing" he told me.

"Yeah I know. But we're alive at least" I said.

"Sure. Alright, now what?".

"We have to find Scourge" I answered.

We looked all over for the Jungle Temple, where I knew Scourge was living at currently. This wouldn't be easy, especially for Oil Slick, who wasn't a beast morph at all. It was really getting to me. Finally I turned to him.

"You realize you could get into major trouble for being here. You're not a beast morph" I told him.

Slick nodded. "And? I've been in trouble before".

"Well, I don't want that happening" I said.

"What's there to do? There's no animals to scan here".

I looked around. We were in some sort of forest near a creek. Then, speak of the devil, a white bear approached the creek to hunt for fish.

"Slick…the bear. Scan that" I said.

"Got it" Slick stared at the bear and scanned it. Then he tried out his new beast morph.

He took the shape of a sickly green colored grizzly with a pretty round head. His limbs were strongly put together. When he stood up on two legs, I was startled to find he was taller than me.

"Nice" I said.

"Do I look okay?" he asked.

"You look amazing".

"It feels a little awkward, but I think I can live with this" he changed back and we continued on.

Out of the blue, we were attacked by the same wolf morph that apparently attacked dad before we arrived. Snarl was his name, and I just wanted to kill the little afthole.

"Ah, the daughter has arrived…and she brought a friend. In the end, I will rule this planet, falcon".

"We'll see about that. I challenge you, Snarl" I declared.

"Accepted, but your friend can't interfere".

"Fine by me. I just want a challenge".

Slick stepped away from us and our fight began. Snarl and I changed to our beast forms and tried attacking that way. It didn't work out so well for him, seeing as how I could fly in both forms. I couldn't do the whole skull bashing trick I did with the Quents, Snarl was too heavy. But I could Dive-bomb him. Perfect.

I flew up into a nearby tree and scanned for Snarl's weak points. If I learned anything from dad, it was to almost pinpoint a weak point, and attack it. Unfortunately, Snarl's weak point was his optics. He wasn't a half blood, so his alloy was stronger than mine. So I had to deprive him of one of his senses before going all out.

I dive bombed for him and stuck my talons right in his optics. Oh yeah, that was a mess. Snarl tried to smack me off, but I managed to stay on. I dug deep, and then got off. When I was sure that Snarl couldn't see me, I tried to do a sneak attack, but Snarl could still hear me and smell me even. He easily pinned me to the ground. His fangs were bared, and he was threatening my throat.

"I'll make you pay, Half Blood!" Snarl roared above me.

I couldn't move. I was paralyzed with fear and his heavy paw wasn't a help either. I thought it was the end of me, until I saw a flash of black and green. Someone had interfered.

A/N: who do you think it is? Next chapter: Find out!


	27. Chapter 26

Oil Slick

I couldn't stand by and watch this. No one messed with my master's apprentice and gets away with it. I had to do something. I transformed to my beast form and attacked Snarl from the sides. The bear and the wolf were enemies in the wild, so now it was the ultimate showdown.

"I believed she challenged me!" Snarl growled at me.

"Yeah, but you're not going to kill my master's daughter!".

"Oil Slick, put the chain down!" I heard a familiar voice said.

I turned around and there was master Lockdown. He seemed pretty different now. His hooked arm was gone and replaced by his original arm, which resembled his other arm. He just looked great! Stronger, definitely. Better, you bet.

"Master Lockdown!" I exclaimed.

"Let me handle this afthole. He's got nothing on me".

"Dad?" Aquila sat up.

"Stay put, kiddo. I'll handle him. Transform!".

Aquila and I watched in amazement as he became, not a muscle car, but a wolverine mech. He snarled and challenged Snarl.

"You wanna be leader, you gotta go through me!".

"I challenged the daughter, but I think I can handle the father!".

Snarl and master Lockdown went at it. All out at it! They bit each other, changed forms constantly, scratched, and used all their weapons. But in the end, master Lockdown was a Half Blood, and Half Bloods were stronger than any full blood.

"Next time, when you wanna tussle with the daughter, you better be ready for the father to protect her!".

"Dad!" Aquila screeched in embarrassment.

Snarl may have been an enemy, but she hated it when he was playing overprotective dad. At any moment!

"Snarl, let the three of them go!" Scourge roared.

"Okay, okay, I'm backing off".

Snarl backed off of us and Scourge led all of us back to the Jungle Temple.

A/N: So now that they're united: What should happen next? A little drama, or should they play it cool?


	28. Chapter 27

Lockdown

When we came back to the Jungle Temple, Aquila and I decided to have a little spark to spark. I had originally come to take her home, but now it was something else, something deeper than that.

"Why did you just take off like that? If you wanted to know more, you could've just asked me" I told her.

"I knew you didn't know half the stuff I was bound to ask. So I went to Earth to ask some of mom's old friends about the past, and…I kinda met someone".

"Is this someone a someone I should know about?" I asked.

"Dad, not the point! Why? Why didn't you just tell me the truth in the beginning?".

It was definitely time to be honest. I couldn't hold back anything. Luckily we were alone.

"I didn't want you to feel different. No one knows better than me about being an outcast. If I told you then…it wouldn't have changed the facts".

"No" Aquila nodded in agreement, "It would've changed my perspective though".

"Would it have?" I asked. Geez, I was asking a ton of questions.

Aquila hugged me. "I'm so sorry for making you worry. I was thinking about going home, but then this came up. Dad…I wanna lead this planet. Beast morphs are dying, and I think I can lead them out of that. Something tells me that's what's going to happen. But it's just a feeling, so…".

"I missed you too, Kiddo. Your mother and I were worried sick. As were your brothers, your sister, even your future brother in law was".

Aquila smiled. "Isn't that him right there?" she asked.

She was pointing at Storm Caller, who was trying to negotiate a deal with Leobreaker. Like father, like son, I guess.

"Nah, that's Storm Caller, he's your future nephew".

"So he's Andy's right?".

"You know she hates that, right?".

"Yeah, but Andy's not here, is she?".

"Good point. I was sparked here you know. I lived with my mother here once. I made a promise to protect her, but in the end, it was the Phoenix herself who wound up protecting me. That reliquary was hers. She made it herself. She used it in rituals and such. She would teach me all about her craft…and I followed it for a while without knowing why".

"Some things you just can't forget, I guess".

"Yeah" I nodded in agreement.

I couldn't believe how distant we were. I knew one very important thing about being a parent: As the sparklings get older, they become less and less attached to their parents. I gazed at Aquila and saw a femme growing too fast. Much too fast. She was only fourteen. I hadn't wanted this for her, but the Quents had left me no options.

"You okay?" Aquila asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking".

"About what?".

"Many things…mostly about you".

"What about me?".

"Just…how distant we are. I mean, now I'm thinking I know barely anything about you".

"You know a lot about me. I'm your Birdie, how can you not know all about me?".

It felt kinda nice to hear her say that she was my Birdie. It was my nickname for her. Aquila then did something that she hadn't done since she was about five stellar cycles. She snuggled up real close to me, her face turned to my chest.

"I've been wanting to do this for such a long time, daddy. But I was afraid you'd think it was immature" she said.

"No, it's alright. It feels nice, actually. It makes me feel closer to you. I don't wanna lose you, Aquila. I always knew there was something about you that I knew I was gonna put you high above your siblings for. I think this was it".

"Shut up and snuggle with me, daddy".

I heard her cry a little. She had all this emotion tucked up. It was kinda sad actually. I knew Aquila was usually unshakable, but now this was how I knew that something happened that really changed her. I held her closer as if I was afraid to let her go. I was scared that she'd disappear again, and I'd never find her. We both fell into recharge like that. Just holding on to each other…not sure what was going to happen. But we knew nothing could set us apart anymore.

A/N: Wow, lots of Out of Character ness in this. I just wanna get this fic over with, but I have so many ideas for it. Oh, someone asked if I was ever going to make a crossover. To answer that, yeah, I do kinda have one planned. If you wanna check it out, you gotta read my file though. See ya!


	29. Chapter 28

Storm Caller

That night was relatively interesting. I struck my first deal with Leobreaker, which was pretty cool. Just as we were about to finalize it though, Scourge called us all in.

"Brothers…Sister, the Great Phoenix has spoken of a great destiny for one of you".

I could've sworn I saw the dragon's gaze fall on Aquila, but he turned back before anyone else could notice.

"A destiny foretold by the Phoenix…it shall be. But only by defeating others, and asserting yourselves. Many challenges will be made, many of which will be difficult. She dares me to challenge your strength, courage, wisdom, intelligence, and of course, family ties. Whoever achieves these tasks, they will be leader of my planet. A planet torn by loyalty until I came to power. But my function is slowly coming to an end, and one of you will rise to the challenges".

"We all know who it will be, Lord Scourge. These others aren't even worthy to breathe the same air I do" Snarl declared.

"Oh, I'd like to see that" Aquila replied, "How are you gonna fight without your optics? I took them out, remember".

"Don't test me, you filthy little Half Blood!".

Lockdown, Oil Slick, and I all got in front of Aquila.

"Mess with one of us, mess with all of us, Full Blood" Lockdown insulted back.

"Just wait for the challenges, Half Bloods, all of you will be beaten!".

Aquila went to strike him, but her father stopped her.

"It's fine, Aquila. His oil may be pure, but his motivations aren't" he said.

Snarl growled at Lockdown. He wasn't too happy about being insulted by a Half Blood.

"Well, this is gonna be fun" I said as Snarl, Leobreaker, and other beast morphs take off.

"Let the challenges begin. And Aquila" Scourge turned to my aunt, "I have utmost faith in you".

"I won't let you down, Scourge" Aquila stood tall and proud.

A/N: I think I'm getting better with defining Caller's personality. I'm trying to mix bounty hunter with arms dealer, but I don't know much about arms dealers. Swindle was only in one episode, which is a bit of a problem.


	30. Chapter 29

Aquila

The first round of the challenge was a fight between me and Leobreaker. He was awesome. We were respected enemies and didn't really want to fight each other. But, when destiny is on the line, you kinda push it away for a while.

I liked Leo, he had age and experience. He was a former Autobot, and I found many reasons to admire him. Leo's beast form was, not surprising, a lion. Hm, that was interesting. A falcon facing off against a lion, wonder how that worked out.

What did I have? I had speed, the ability to think on my feet (or wings, whichever), and my experience as a bounty hunter. The fight started off soundly, Leo and I shook hands as a sign of respect, and we took our beast forms. We had to fight like that. Perfect…or so I thought. Leo got to decide what terrain we had to fight in, and he decided a setting that was a hot, African savannah.

It was way too hot for me to fly in. I was degraded to the ground. Leo pounced for me and all I could do was hop away. I knew this to be the test of strength. I was being tested in emotional and physical strength. This was one test, one of many. Possibly the easiest. But if I couldn't pass this one, then I couldn't pass any others. I looked to the Scourge, but he looked away.

I knew that he meant to support me, just in a different way. I tried to get away from Leo, but of course, he pounced on me and pinned me to the ground. I squirmed under him. I didn't think there was a way out until I gazed at my talons.

"That's it!" I thought. I set one of my feet to his torso and scratched down with my talons. Leo roared in pain and got off me.

While he was still rearing, I jerked a little to bash my head into his lower jaw, practically busting it. Then I put the drop on him. I jumped a few feet up and landed right on him, my talons right at his throat. No oil spilled, I won.

"Woot woot! Good job aunt Aquila!" I heard Caller yell.

I looked to my father and then to Scourge, who simply smiled. I knew victory was right in my way. It was up to me to grasp it. I pulled Leo up and we shook hands again.

"Nice job kid, wasn't expecting that" Leo admitted.

"Well, dad taught me that trick. So, are we alright?" I asked.

"You bet! I'm rooting for you, Aquila".

I watched him go back to the others. Snarl was giving me an evil eye. Hm, he was going to have quite a fight when he tussled with me, I promised that. I was going to be queen of the beast morphs!

A/N: Getting a little daring there, Aquila. Can't wait to type the next chapter!


	31. Chapter 30

Oil Slick

Then it was my turn. I was going up against another bear mech. This one had the shape of a black bear. So it was the classic black bear versus the Grizzly. His name was Liber.

Luckily for me, I got to choose our landscape battleground. I knew black bears were good when the conditions suited them. Those conditions included wide open spaces near forestry. Grizzlies were good in rocky, mountainous regions. So I chose that setting.

Liber was good, he easily adjusted to things. This was my challenge. Scourge was challenging my ability to change…my greatest fear. Master Lockdown had tried to teach me not to fear change, but not all change was good, so I learned the hard way.

Liber and I shook hands, transformed, and began our fight. He looked mighty strong in his animal form, even enough to intimidate me. I looked to Master and my friends. Master nodded assured that I would win. Aquila gave me an unreadable expression. Caller was trying to make himself look bigger than Liber (good luck). Snarl was looking evil. Just looking at him made me burn with strength.

I snarled at Liber and charged at him. We collided and I scratched him in the face. At first it was scratched, but when I looked again, it was healed. Holy Shift! I tried biting him on the neck, but again, his wound healed.

"What the pit?! Why can't I attack him with my natural weapons?!" I thought.

My thoughts were interrupted when Liber charged me and knocked me over. Just before his claws could get me in the throat, I swiped his huge paw away and bit his throat again. I let go when he swiped me off. Then I caught on. He was just like the Nemean Lion. He couldn't be defeated by weapons. Alright, I knew what to do.

Liber charged me again and I moved out of the way so I could make a clearing for my next attack. I knew what I had to do. When he noticed my absence, Liber turned and I was immediately on him. I pinned him down and pressed a paw on his throat. Heracles had killed the Nemean Lion by suffocating it. That's what I had to do for Liber. Again, no oil was spilled. I won.

I got off of Liber and we again shook hands.

"You're good. It's been a long time since anyone's discovered my weakness. How'd you know?" Liber asked.

"Simple, ever heard of the twelve labors of Heracles? Well, one labor had him kill this lion called the Nemean Lion, which couldn't be killed by any weapon. So he choked it to death. I saw I had to do the same for you".

"Very good. You move on to the next round along with your friend. I have faith in you both".

I glared at Snarl, who gave me a noticing, menacing, growl. I smiled.

"How do you like the taste of canary feathers, Snarl?" I thought, laughing inside.

A/N: How was that? I suck with battle scenes, so I have to make them short and not so detailed.


	32. Chapter 31

Storm Caller

I wasn't in the challenges. But I observed a lot of their battle strategies. I think the most watched was definitely Snarl. If you haven't noticed, he's the most hated mech on the Jungle Planet. I was quite sure that aunt Aquila was going to throw him off the planet. It wouldn't surprise me if she did.

Snarl was an excellent fighter in his own right. He defeated his opponents easily. Just when he faced off against gramps…oh yeah, it wasn't an easy win for either of them. They were hardcore at each other at first, but then, for some odd reason, he stopped fighting him. It was strange. Gramps never backed down from a fight. Something just wasn't right.

Aquila and Oil Slick wanted to interfere, but they couldn't. If they did, gramps would've been disqualified. This was testing our family ties. But maybe Scourge was testing something more….

A/N: And he is. Wanna know what it is? Wait for the next chapter, which will feature the song Just to Get High by Nickelback.


	33. Chapter 32

Lockdown

_He was my best friend. _

_I tried to help him. _

_But he traded everything for suffering, _

_And found himself alone. _

As I fought Snarl, I began to have these hallucinations sort of speak. I saw a happy white and blue wolf sparkling with his Autobot parents. His father had been a commander, and his mother an intelligence officer. Pretty good for a slagger like him. But why was he now the way he was? I was snapped back to reality when he charged me and knocked me over. I protected my throat with my front paws (unfortunately, we were in his advantage zone). I wasn't about to make this easy on him. I scratched his face and he pulled back. I got up again and another hallucination hit me.

_I watched the lying, _

_Turn into hiding. _

_With scars on both his lips, _

_His fingertips, _

_Were melted to the bone. _

I watched the father, a wolf mech like Snarl, lose his life to Decepticon forces. I saw his mother, another wolf, die at the hands of a bounty hunter like me. I realized that Snarl didn't hate me for being a Half Blood, he hated me for what I was. He hated my family all the more for it. The Quents and the Decepticons had wanted the Beast Morphs dead, and his parents were just two of several thousand victims of a…bloody, I guess, massacre of innocent people. All of it was destroyed right in front of him.

It was Scourge who took him under his wing. He tried to help the troubled pup, but his views about Decepticons, bounty hunters, and Quentissons wouldn't change. The hatred of Half-Bloods came with the hatred for bounty hunters, since most were Half Bloods.

_But I can still remember, _

_What his face looked like, _

_When I found him in an alley, _

_In the middle of the night. _

The memory faded and I tried to focus, but couldn't. Snarl was taking full advantage of the situation. He continuously knocked me over and tried to claim a victory, but I wouldn't let him. I had to know more. I had to see more. I knew he wasn't a Half-Blood, but it was quite possible that he was just as lost and alone as I had been.

Scourge had been like to him as Death Gar was to me. If he only knew my story, maybe he wouldn't hate me so much. But there was little chance that he actually wanted to listen. All Snarl wanted to do now was fight, and become the planet's leader. I wouldn't make that easy, as said.

_Tell me what you know. _

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

_Tell me what you know. _

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

I watched his depression after the death of his parents. He was barely six stellar cycles old, and torn between a terrible war. I knew what that was like. It wasn't fair in my optics that he had to suffer when he was so young. I had hoped that no one else had to experience my pain, but there was one, and possibly thousands more.

"Get up and fight, Orion! You don't back down from a bounty! So why's this any different?!" Snarl spat.

I rose to my feet. "Because you and I are much alike, Snarl. I could explain if you'd let me".

_Gonna do the trick, get it over with. _

_You're better off to take all that, _

_You've got and burn it on the spot. _

_Just to get high. _

"You wouldn't get it, Hunter. Fight me, Slag it!" Snarl demanded, crushing into me again, "You're a Half Blood, you should be stronger than me! So Prove it!".

I fell to the ground again. "No" I said simply, "I won't hurt anyone anymore than I need to".

"You liar!" Snarl pinned me.

"I'm not in this to become leader. I'm in this because it's my birth right to be a part of this".

Snarl gave a snap at the throat. "Don't make me kill you, Orion".

_Three days no sleeping, he gave up eating. _

_He sold his mother's rings, she said nothing, _

_And pretended not to know. _

"You wouldn't do it. I wanna see you pull the trigger, Snarl. Just to see if you've got the spark plugs to do it" I dared.

Snarl pushed down harder on me, but I bit his leg and found myself pinning him. Now he had to listen.

"look at me, Snarl! I said look at me, damn it!" I forced him to do so, "You think you're the only one who had to suffer through that war?! At least you have memories of your parents! Let me tell you something, not remembering, it sucks!".

_He started stealing to supply the feeling._

_Found out he pulled a knife on someone's wife, _

_And held it to her throat. _

"Shut up, Orion!".

"NO!" I shouted at him, "You shut up and listen to me, kid! You better be grateful for what you do have rather than dwelling on the past. It's over now, get over it! I had to. It might've been easier for me, and I understand that I might not fully understand your pain, but when I was shown what my mother was like…Oh, I caught on that realization was a glitch!".

Snarl breathed hard and bit the side of my neck, knocking me over again.

_But I can still remember, _

_What his face looked like, _

_When I found him in an alley, _

_In the middle of the night. _

"I hate bounty hunters, Orion, and Half Bloods along with them! This is me, your kind made me this way!".

"Yeah, but you had a choice. You still do. Snarl, it's not too late for you! When my memory core was swiped…it was the worse thing ever. My path was chosen for me. My mother never wanted me to be a bounty hunter, despite what my name implied!".

I had another memory just then, one of his. My mother, she had made a beautiful nest by a wolf den by a river. It was raining, and right under the phoenix's wing, there was a little scared wolf sparkling.

_Tell me what you know. _

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

_Tell me what you know. _

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

"Wait!" I realized, "My mother took care of you, didn't she?!".

"That's not your business!" Snarl growled.

"I think it is".

I watched the wolf circle me. He was waiting just to kill me. I noticed that Aquila wanted to get in to help. I gave her a look that said not to. I was alright without her help. I got up. I had to teach him the hard way. I rushed at him and pulverized him, scratching him all over his body. I was doing what I had to do. I had to save him from himself. That's what Shadow had to do with me, maybe it would work for him.

_Gonna do the trick, get it over with. _

_You're better off to take all that _

_You've got and burn it on the spot. _

_Just to get high. _

He squirmed under me, but I kept him pin. I hated doing this, but I had to. I had to help him somehow. He wouldn't listen to my reason, so I had to do it his way. My alloy might have been weaker, but I proved stronger in the end. I grabbed his throat, and a trickle of oil came from the wound.

My fight alone was bloody. But both of us were hurt in our own way. He had memories of his parents, both good and bad. Me? All I had were just visions that Scourge showed me. After that…nothing. I had wanted to help him…and in a way that was entirely my own, I had. No, I didn't kill him like I had wanted to before.

_Tell me what you did, where you gone and hid? _

_Show me what you really want, was it what you got? _

_Slowly circle in the drain, throw it all away. _

_Just to get high, high, high, oh. _

I watched Snarl walk off and go back to Scourge. The dragon stared at him, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kill him. But rather, Snarl sighed and took off in another direction. I found myself feeling sorry for the way he had to learn. I didn't want it to be that way.

"Dad, you okay?" Aquila asked me.

"Yeah. Hey, I caught on to something. I gotta talk to Scourge" I addressed the dragon now, "This was the test of family bonds, wasn't it? His memories, Snarl was raised by my mother after his was killed, right?".

"Yes. Snarl…he's hated bounty hunters and Half-Bloods since his mother's death. It was my fault. I could've protected her, but I put my faith in the wrong person. He appeared to blame the hunters, but I knew, and still know, better. He blames me for his mother's death".

_Tell me what you know, _

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

_Tell me what you know._

_Tell me what you've gone and done now. _

Aquila, Slick, Caller, and Liber went back to the temple, but I took off to find Snarl. He couldn't take this on his own. He had been his whole function. I didn't know that one spark could take so much pain, but his did. I followed his scent, leaking oil in case you wanted to know, to the same den site in my last vision.

"Snarl?" I looked into the den and found him trying in vain to lick the wound on his neck (not deep enough to kill).

"Now what do you want?!" Snarl growled.

"I wanna help".

_Gonna do the trick, get it over with. _

_You're better off to take all that _

_You've got and burn it on the spot_

_Just to get high. _

Snarl laughed with sarcasm evident. "I think you've helped enough".

"Get outta there and let me help".

"NO!".

"Will you stop being so damn stubborn and let me help you?! Cassiopeia would not have wanted this for both of us! I would know, I'm her son!".

"You're a disgrace to her! You're the reason why she's not here now!".

"Scourge thinks you blame him" I calmed down, lying down at the entrance hole with my head sticking in.

_Tell me what you did, where you've gone and hid? _

_Show me what you really want, was it what you got? _

_Slowly circle in the drain, throw it all away. _

_Just to get high, just to get high. _

_Circle in the drain, throw it all away. _

_Just to get high. _

"He can blame himself all he wants. Let the old fool think for himself. It hasn't gotten me anywhere".

"So you blame me? Cassiopeia was killed for her religious beliefs, not because of me. She was a paganist. She believed in human gods, and not ours. For a while, I did too".

"Yet you were never killed".

I was sure he was calmed now, so I scooted a little in and tumbled into him. He snarled at me and got out.

"Sorry about that" I noticed he couldn't reach his throat to lick the oil, so I came closer.

"Don't even think of it" Snarl growled.

I ignored him and started licking up the oil myself. We were brothers…in a way. Again, our fight was the bloodiest. The fight to survive always is.

A/N: I'm almost done with this guys, don't worry. I don't own the song Just to Get High. That belongs to Nickelback, my favorite band. See ya next chapter.


	34. Chapter 33

Aquila

When it came down to it, it was me against my father. We had defeated everyone in our paths except for each other. Now it was our turn to prove who was better. And finally, the battle ground was mine to choose. I picked a mountainous region with several tall trees bordering a forest area. This was about to be the perfect fight.

Dad wasn't about to make this easy on me, even if I was his kid. My optics met his, and we knew destiny was about to take its course. He lashed out at me, almost striking me with his huge left front paw. Ironically, that was his chainsaw arm. I flew up before he could get me. Best way to get out of sight when you're a bird, fly towards the sun. My plan worked. Dad couldn't look for very long. I waited about a minute or two, and then put the drop on him. I flew down incredibly fast and pecked his head hard on the very top.

"I'm impressed. Only Prowl's been able to get the drop on me in recent years. Very impressive kiddo".

"Want me to do it again?" I asked.

"I don't think so!" Dad attacked again.

He went on to get me down on the ground, but it was okay. He wasn't out to hurt me, thank goodness. He could've easily done so. He didn't go for my throat directly; rather, he toyed with me a bit. Tossing me in the air, then catching me only to throw me up again. Yeah, it gave me a processor ache. When he tossed me again, I flew up again and dive bombed him. Yep, hit him right in the head again. This, to me, was almost like a hilarious game, though I should've taken it a bit more seriously.

Yeah, believe it or not, I wound up losing, which left Dad as leader of the planet. I guess I wasn't the one that Scourge wanted. Maybe it was dad, I didn't know. But I met up with him again the night after the fight to ask him what he'd do now. He didn't wanna give up hunting for this. He couldn't rule a planet met to be free.

"I do however want to lead everyone to a better energon source. The energon signatures here are incredibly low".

"How are you gonna do that?" I asked.

"We have to move everyone here. There's a better source our by the old cottage where my mother taught me her craft. Do you wanna see it?".

"Yeah" I nodded, "definitely".

I followed my father out of the temple to a certain foggy area with, just like he said, an old burned down cottage stood.

"This was her alter. She worshipped Artemis here" he told me.

"Artemis?" I asked.

"Greek goddess of the hunt. Most Half Blood hunters, me and Death Gar including, look to her for a great hunt. She protected us and gave us strength to go on with our functions. I was named for her hunting companion".

"Orion?" .

"Yeah. There are three stories I know as to how he died. Some say he was killed in a hunt. Others say Artemis killed him in self defense. I believe the one with him and Scorpios".

"A scorpion I take it?".

Dad nodded. "Sent by another god, probably her brother, Apollo, to kill him to protect his sister's chastity".

"I thought she resisted most men's advances toward her".

"She did. But Apollo got the wrong idea about her and Orion so he sent Scorpios to kill him".

I sighed. "That's terrible. What'd she do?".

"Put him and his two hounds in the night sky as the constellations Orion, Canis Major, and Canis Minor".

"Why didn't she try to bring him back to life?".

"I'm sure she tried, but once a soul passes to the Underworld, there was no coming back".

"But Orpheus-" I started.

"Orpheus failed to bring his wife back. He was later torn to shreds by crazy, evil nymphs".

I stepped close to the fireplace and wiped some dust off the top of it. There were several images carved into the stone. There was a stag being attacked by hounds, a silver colored bow and arrow, a wolf being hunted by Artemis, and the many nymphs who were her followers.

"The silver bow and arrow was my favorite. It played an important role in Artemis' hunt" dad put a hand on my shoulder.

"How?".

"Apollo had gold for his bow and arrows, but Artemis chose silver. Gold caused pain to those who were shot with them. But silver was gentle in its touch and didn't dare hurt any creature. That's what inspired my no kill policy in my hunting".

"Why?".

"No life loving creature wants to be killed, Aquila. I only kill if the prey is in terrible pain and will die anyway. In a way, you save it that way".

"Death Gar taught you that, didn't he?".

"Yeah".

"So, how are you going to move them all across the desert to this spot? Not everyone's gonna want to do it".

"I know, but they'll have to if they wanna survive. Death Gar also taught me that the fight to survive is always the hardest and bloodiest. But in the end, the survivor gets to tell the story".

"Rules of Survival" I knew that quote from anywhere from that one book about the three abused kids.

"Very good. We gotta go back so we can tell Scourge my plan. Let's go".

I followed dad out, but not before taking one last look at the Silver bow and arrow carving.

A/N: I know I so got off with this, but I thought I'd have Lockdown explain some mythology to Aquila, that and show off my own knowledge of Greek and roman mythology.


	35. Chapter 34

Lockdown

I wasn't lying about the weak energon signature I kept getting. I never really intended on winning the competition, but maybe fate had different plans. I had to lead the others to a more reliable source of Energon, or the rest of a once proud race would be swiped for good.

I knew Snarl wouldn't want to go, but…what choice did anyone have in this? Scourge gave me the Dream Catcher emblem, and my status was certain. It was kinda weird feeling, but it was…I don't know, it was something.

"Listen guys, I've done some scans in my time here. The energon levels surrounding the temple are incredibly low. We need to move on now if we're to get to a better source" I told them.

No surprise, Snarl objected. "You expect us to leave the only home we've ever known?!".

"Staying here's a death sentence, Snarl. I know a place where energon is plentiful and you can live in that area for years. But in order to get there, we have to cross the desert".

"Where is this place?" Scourge asked.

"The area surrounding my mother's former altar. I was just there, and I did some scans. Energon levels are relatively high. As for this place, it may look healthy, but the years of war with the Autobots, Decepticons, and even Quentissons has taken its toll on the land. We have to leave…now preferably!".

"You'll get us all killed, Orion!" Snarl roared at me, "Don't you mechs get it?! He's trying to make us paganists like his mother!".

I jumped down from the temple, landing right in front of him.

"Staying here, is a death sentence, like I said. I think it'd be in your best interest if you put aside your hatred of me and listen to damn reason for a change. I'm not trying to change your ways, but my readings of that particular area are off the charts. There's no question about it. We have to go".

"How soon…Lord Orion?" Oil Slick asked, addressing me by my new title.

"Again, Now preferably".

"How long will it take to get there?" Liber asked.

"At least an hour. It's not too far from here".

"The trek should be easy in that case. We must go now, like Orion has said" Scourge agreed with me.

"I've never led a planet, but I've ruled bounty hunters for eons. If we're gonna make it through the desert alive, I've got three rules. One, Stay together at all times. Two, I'm gonna be giving you a travel partner. You must stay with that partner in case he or she needs help. Lastly, we are going through a huge desert. Stuff is gonna come up, and shift is gonna happen. In those cases, no one, I repeat, NO ONE had better play the hero. Now pair up so we can get outta here".

A/N: How was that? Yeah, I love Greek and roman mythology, but Egyptian is my specialty. Next chapter, the conclusion of _Aquila_.


	36. Chapter 35

Aquila

I think Destiny is weird. One minute she's dealing with one person, and then the next she deals her hand to you. That's how she's always worked. She's not always so kind about it. Sometimes she takes you away from the things that matter most. And that's exactly what she did to me that day.

I was paired with Scourge. I wasn't one to leave others behind. Liber and Oil Slick were partnered up, as were Storm Caller and Dad. The only one alone was probably Snarl, and I should've known that he would attack us. Scourge was falling behind, and he was my partner. I couldn't leave him. I helped him through the beginning of the desert, but we were attacked during a sandstorm. It was Snarl, coming to destroy the one thing that mattered most to everyone on the jungle Planet: Scourge.

He bum rushed Scourge first, hitting him in the side and knocked him over.

"You're love of Half Bloods has made you weak, fool. This little Half Blood will die with you!".

"Snarl!" I exclaimed.

"You!" Snarl started with a low growl and I sent out an angry falcon call.

"I'll teach you to mind your place, filthy little Half Blood!".

"Oh, my place! Bring it, Full Blood!".

He went straight for my throat with the intention to kill, but I wrestled him down into the sand. No one was gonna mess with my friend and get away with it! He soon had me pinned to the ground, biting down on one of my wings. It wasn't long before Scourge was in the fight too, biting Snarl's back. But Snarl easily knocked him off. He was distracted by Scourge and I tried to get up, only to find him hulking over me again.

"Snarl!" I heard my father's voice call, "Leave her be!".

Snarl gasped at the sight of the green and black wolverine that was my father. He definitely wasn't expecting to be challenged by the new leader.

"Dad, you gotta get back with the others!" I told him.

"I'll get back with them, but I gotta take care of him first! Thought we had an understanding Snarl, what happened?".

Snarl growled at my father as the raven flew over head of us. We looked up to see it flying in circles. It flew across the desert and straight to the rest of the beast morphs.

"We have to go, now!" Scourge informed us.

"NO!" Snarl roared at us, "No one's gong anywhere!".

"But the others!" I yelled.

"They chose their fate because of you dirty oiled, paganist rats! Because of you're stupidity, they'll all die along with the rest of our race!".

"Scourge, Aquila and I can hold off Snarl while you cross to the others. They need someone to lead them" dad told the dragon.

"Dad, they're too far off. Scourge won't make it. He's not a flying dragon".

"Unfortunately she's right, only my spirit is strong now" Scourge agreed.

Dad turned to Snarl. "What about you? You wanted a shot at leadership" he removed the emblem, "Take it, it's yours!".

"No way! I'm not leaving our home for anything! Especially not for those Half Blood lovers!".

"Then you've made your choice, and you've made it clear" Dad attacked Snarl and bit hard on his neck.

Just before Snarl could get back up after an attack, dad chased him away. Banishment…nice job on his part. I would've done the same thing. Snarl wouldn't be back.

"I can help you get over there, Scourge" Dad told him.

The dragon shook his head. Then dad caught on that he was right, me and Scourge both were right.

"You guys are right. You won't make it. I'll go".

"No" I objected, "You don't belong here, dad. You belong back at home, with mom, Camelio, Andy, and Chamaeleon. But I do belong here, dad. These are my kind. It's destiny playing her hand the way it should be".

"Cassiopeia told me to find the one who is Half Blooded, but does not know. I knew it was her from the start. But you took over, and I thought I miscalculated. I was wrong about that. I was right. Not you, but Aquila must lead the planet".

Scourge nodded and took off, leaving me and my father alone. He stepped up to me in his normal form.

"You sure, kiddo?" he asked me.

I nodded. Words weren't needed at the time.

"It's just so hard to let my birdie go and fly away".

"Dad, I'm not your-".

He gave me a sad look and I kinda gave in. I hugged him.

"Okay, so I'll always be your birdie".

I let go and started to head off.

"Goodbye, daddy" I said, "Oh, and tell mom and them, I finally found my own home".

I took one last look at him and took to find the others. I knew he was watching over me now as I flew away. It didn't matter where my wings took me, I'd always fly back to him and my bounty hunting heritage. All those memories raced through my head, especially my first flight, when I first used telepathy to talk to dad on my first day (yeah, we had awesome memory cores like that). I finally made it to the others and let out yet another falcon call as a last memory for my father. I knew he was proud of me that day…and he always would be.

Lockdown

I traveled back to the temple, not really sure where else to go. I met up with Scourge again there.

"She'll be fine on her own. You may keep the emblem, as a sign of where you're from, Orion. Never forget your own heritage, your own story, and Cassiopeia will live forever through you and your family. But now it's time for you to return home. Your spark mate is probably worried out of her processor".

"What about you? You're a loner now. Where are you gonna go?" I asked.

"I will find Snarl. I know now that he needs me more than ever. I assure you, his hatred for Half lings like you and Aquila will die with time. We are the same type you know. By the way…you bonded with a human didn't you?".

"I did. Her name was Melissa before she changed it to Shadow. Why's it matter?".

"You and I are similar in that way. I too, bonded with a human. Her name was Lori, but she kept her name as a dragon morph. She was the last femme before your daughter came up".

"What happened to her?".

Scourge sighed. "She was killed by Quentissons a long time ago, like your mother".

"my mother was killed by rogues".

"No, Orion, she was killed by Quents disguised as rogues. It was tragic to everyone. I must leave you now" Scourge chuckled, "Lockdown" it was the first and only time Scourge called me by the only name I ever remembered myself by.

When Scourge was out of sight, the raven flew over me again. This time, it glowed a reddish hue.

"Great" I said, "Now what?" I asked.

"Only the journey back home, Orion" a voice I knew all too well answered.

I turned and there she was, Cassiopeia, my mother, in her phoenix form.

"Cassiopeia…mother, I'm sorry. I know I didn't protect you from them".

"All is well. Artemis…she will be with you now, as well as with Aquila".

"I have so many things to ask you".

"Not now, Orion, but all will be answered in time" Cassiopeia gave out a phoenix call, similar to a hawk's, and disappeared in a red flame.

"Goodbye to you too, mother" I said as I watched the flame vanish.

A/N: Finished! Finally, the Lockdown's Shadow series is over! Now I don't know what to do. This is weird, really, really weird. It's days like these that I wish I had a YouTube file, because I really wanna make trailers for my fics, like some do on theirs, but I can't. I'm not allowed to have one. Well, I also wanna dedicate this to my own dad, who's currently serving in Iraq as a contractor. He was a soldier two years ago when he left the first time, and I wanted to make something for him. I think this is it, though he will probably never read it (he's not into fanfiction). See ya guys next fanfic! In the meantime, don't forget to be awesome!


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